My Best Friend Severus
by SilverSerpent13
Summary: Something happened long ago that changed Severus' attitude as well as his outward appearance. What happens when he gets his looks changed back? Why, he tries to break out of his greasy git personality of course! Warning HPDM slash mentioned.
1. The Curse

Summary: Something happened long ago that changed Severus' attitude as well as his outward appearance. What happens when he gets his looks changed back? Why, he tries to break out of his greasy git personality of course! Warning HPDM slash mentioned.

Disclaimer: I'm making no money off this fic, so no suing! J.K. Rowling owns all the characters, except the ones I make up myself, and I also own this plot!

It was the last day of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's 6th year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the previous week, Harry had managed to defeat the greatest wizard in a century, Lord Voldemort. The whole wizarding world was celebrating. Now seven days later it was finally Hogwarts' turn to celebrate properly. Dumbledore was holding a ball in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's honor, for Harry's two friends had helped greatly in the battle.

It was now the time of the ball, and all the girls and boys were lovely and handsome in their dress robes. As they were all doing some funny muggle dance called the chicken dance, Hermione noticed Snape, her Potions professor, sitting in his wheelchair, all alone in the far, dark corner of the Great Hall. It was a shame that he had to be temporarily paralyzed from the waist down after Voldemort hit him with a nasty spell during the final battle. He would eventually be able to walk again, but for now he was stuck in a wheelchair. He was not happy about not being able to walk and tried to get out and walk so much they eventually decided to strap him in the wheelchair so he couldn't hurt himself. Hermione couldn't help but feel sorry for him; after all he did play a big role in this war, being a spy for the Order and all. Also Harry never would have got that clear shot at Voldemort, had Snape not distracted him. All and all Hermione felt Snape should be honored just as much as Harry, Ron, and herself, and of course be able to join in on the activities.

'_It's really sad_,' she thought, '_that he can't dance, I'm sure he would be very good at it_.' She blushed realizing what she was thinking. She had a crush on him. She had realized it in the middle of fifth year after the little incident they had in potions class.

FLASHBACK

"The instructions for your potion are on the board. If you don't know which potion it is that we are working on then I suggest that you pay better attention next time." Snape sneered at Neville who was franticly searching through his notes; he had no idea what potion they were working on. "You have exactly one hour, now GET TO WORK!" He barked, as he turned on his heel striding elegantly back towards his desk, his robes billowing dramatically behind him.

'_Wow_,' Hermione thought to herself, _'He looks so graceful when he walks like that . . . Whoa, this is Snape I'm talking about here_, _I must stop thinking about him like that!_ Must concentrate on potion. _Wait a minutes, that's odd; the instructions on the board are incorrect. Snape has never been wrong. Doesn't he know that last year they improved this Healing Potion by adding Butterfly Wings to make it last longer? I'm sure he knows; he just wants us all to fail. Well I'm not going to fail, I'll show him or my name isn't Hermione Granger_.'

Focused on that thought she began to work silently and steadily, brewing a perfect potion, up until the part where she was supposed to add the Butterfly Wings. She was just about to drop them in to her boiling cauldron when she heard Snape yell to her from across the room.

"Miss Granger, what exactly do you think you are doing? Are you trying to kill us all, or have your know-it-all tendencies just simply faded completely away, which I wouldn't find surprising considering you hang out with Potter and Weasley." Snape drawled, accompanied by roaring laughter from the Slytherins and menacing glares from Harry and Ron, directed at the offending teacher.

'_Is it possible that he really doesn't know, or is he just trying to humiliate me_?' she silently wondered. Upon seeing the strange look on his face she decided that he must not know. She resolved to tell him.

"Well Miss Granger, I'm waiting to hear an explanation and it had better be good."

"Actually Professor, I was hoping to discuss this alone with you in your office." Hermione stated as she grabbed the magazine with the article in it out of her bag.

"I will do no such thing. Tell me this instant, right here," he said, gesturing around the room in general, "or you will have detention for a week."

"Fine, I guess I will have to do this the hard way then. _Petrificus Totalus." _she stated matter-of-factly and pointed her wand at him. His entire body froze up, but she caught him before he fell and pushed him into his office and locked the door behind them.

"_Finite Incantatum_."

Snape immediately started blowing up on her.

"Miss Granger that kind of behavior is completely against the rules! 100 points from Gryffindor for immobilizing a teacher and detention for a month." he yelled, his eyes flashing danger, and headed for the door but found it locked. He turned on Hermione. "What's the meaning of this?" he hissed at her.

She responded quickly and slightly sadly after he had disciplined her, but she tried not to let him see that she was affected by his cruel words. "I wanted to get you alone to tell you that you were wrong about the potion and I figured you would be embarrassed if I pointed it out in front of the whole class."

"Ha! I have _never_ been wrong about a potion." He smirked as if challenging her to prove him wrong. That's just what she did. She took out the article and showed it to him and after he finished reading it all he could do was stare dumbfounded at the article and mutter "Oh." Then he sat down in his chair to think for a minute.

'_She was right! The brainy Gryffindor know-it-all has finally beaten me and proven herself once more. She must really hate me after I made fun of her when all she was trying to do was help me. I bet she is just waiting for me to look at her so she can rub it in my face. Wait a minute; didn't she say something about not embarrassing me in front of the class? Could she possibly care about me? No, she just thinks of me as the greasy git of a Potions Master and probably hates me right now. I suppose I should apologize.' _

At that last thought he winced; Severus Snape never apologized to anyone, but for Granger he supposed he would have to make an exception, especially after the way he had treated her. So he stood up and said, " I am deeply sorry for doubting you Miss Granger and I hope you can forgive me for my actions."

"Of course I can." she replied with a smile.

At seeing her smile he gave her a slight one in return. "110 points to Gryffindor and you are excused from your detentions. Now I suggest we get back to class. I daresay Potter and Weasley will think I have murdered you." He finished, his lips just barely turned up. Hermione found Snape's slight smile highly contagious and smiled for the rest of the lesson.

END FLASHBACK

Hermione realized that she had been openly staring at Snape as she recalled the fateful day in Potions class and also realized that he had caught her. She quickly looked away, blushing. Just then Dumbledore stood to make an announcement, making Hermione forget about her embarrassment.

"As you all know, we are here to celebrate the downfall of Voldemort." He paused at the many cheers and winces at the name (people still weren't fully used to saying Voldemort). Dumbledore continued, "But we also have something else to celebrate tonight. Years ago a small child of only 11 joined the Death Eaters in order to spy on me and this school. However, this boy soon realized that what he was doing was wrong he came to me and I proposed he be a double agent for our cause. He agreed and has since brought us useful information that we could not have won this war without.

"So this boy moved up higher in Voldemort's ranks and Voldemort himself took notice of him. Voldemort noticed something about the boy that disturbed him greatly, for Tom Riddle had always been the best at everything. Voldemort noticed that the boy was better looking then himself, and shallow as this may sound Voldemort couldn't take it and so he decided to fix the problem. He cast a very powerful appearance -altering charm on the boy to not only make him uglier but also to look much older than he really was." Many of the girls gasped at the cruelty.

"The charm is so powerful that it can only be removed when Voldemort died. Seeing as how he is now completely dead, I think we should take that charm off now and see what this man truly looks like and find out his real age, don't you?"

The crowd screamed yes and so a smiling, twinkly-eyed Dumbledore called, "Come on up here, Professor Snape."

At hearing his name Severus snapped out of his daydream; he had almost forgot about that horrid curse that caused him to be tormented with names such as Greasy Git and Overgrown Bat. Severus, now anxious to see what he really looked like, for he had long since forgotten, wheeled over to Dumbledore as fast as he could. Minerva brought over a full length mirror for him to look in after he changed. Albus said the counter-curse and as Snape looked at himself he gasped. He turned around just in time to see Hermione faint.

**Author's Note**

So, what do you all think? I hope you liked it! This is my first fic, not just my first HP fic, but my first one at all, so no flames! However, constructive criticism is always welcome. Many thanks to my friend Taylor, for being a great Beta and editor. R/R, please!


	2. Aftermath

To everyone's surprise, Snape now looked like he could be a male model. He had shorter, still black hair, which was cut into layers around his face. Its texture was no longer greasy, but silky and smooth. His eyes, once bottomless black holes, were now bright blue and shining with happiness. His nose was smaller and not crooked, and his teeth were perfectly straight and sparkling white. His figure was no longer scrawny, but strong and muscular.

Snape took a look around the room to see if Hermione was alright. It seemed she wasn't the only student who fainted at his new appearance; so many students had fainted that every teacher had to take one to the hospital wing. Snape wheeled down to join the rest of the teachers near the students that fainted. Each teacher took a student and started towards the hospital wing. Since Snape was at the front of the Great Hall, he couldn't get to the students quite as fast. So by the time he got there only one student was left to be taken; Hermione Granger.

Upon seeing who he was to take he thought to himself, 'Oh splendid, I have to take the Gryffindor. I don't see why teachers can't just heal the students themselves; it would be all too easy to do.' Sighing he lifted her up onto his lap and started to wheel toward the hospital wing. As soon as he got out of the Great Hall, he sensed something was amiss. He couldn't quite place it, but something just didn't feel right. It was almost as if he was being watched. Just as he rounded a corner, Lucius Malfoy jumped out of the shadows.

The elder Malfoy then spoke in that familiar drawl, " Well, well, well, what have we here? A traitor and a mudblood, both equally sinful in my Lord's eyes. So, traitor, have you anything to say for yourself?"

Snape asked sharply, "Your master is dead. Why are you still acting as if he isn't?"

He then said the spell to awaken Hermione. Startled, she got off of Snape quickly as Malfoy stated, "Even though my Lord is dead, I will continue his work. That includes ridding the world of filthy mudbloods and traitors like you."

At this Snape wheeled between Hermione and Malfoy and said, " If you want to kill her you will have to go through me first. Let's have a wizards duel, whoever wins gets Granger."

Malfoy, who was never one to back down to a challenge, agreed. "Deal, but we need a fair duel; I don't want you wheeling over my foot or something. _Finate Incantatum Maximus_! There, now you are no longer paralyzed, so get up and fight me like a man!"

"Alright, let's go!"

They squared up and bowed, then it started. Snape, poised in his dueling stance with his wand above his head, got the first shot in. He hit Malfoy with _Serpentsortia. _A poisonous snake came out of the end of his wand and slithered towards Malfoy, hissing malevolently. As Malfoy was fending off the snake, he managed to hit Snape with an evil curse that makes your skin feel like its being burned off. While they were recovering both men tried to catch the other off guard. They hit each other with _Expelliarmus _at the same time. The end result was both wands gravitating towards each other, slamming in the middle, and shattering into a million pieces.

Malfoy then said, "Well, Snape, I guess we will have to call it a tie since neither of us have our wands. Oh, but that would never do now would it? I don't tie with traitors."

"Then what do you suggest we do Malfoy?" sneered Snape.

"It was your idea to duel, Snape, think of something."

"Ok, we will fight it out like muggles."

"What!"

"You heard me, let's go, unless . . ." Snape trailed off, smirking.

"Unless what?" Lucius challenged, just daring Snape to continue that line of thought.

"Unless you're too much of a coward, Malfoy." said Snape, still smirking.

"I'm no coward! Let's fight!"

Malfoy never exercised because he never had to fight like a muggle before, therefore he wasn't very strong. Snape, on the other hand, exersiced every day, so he had a very muscular physique. They both took off their cloaks, revealing that Snape was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans and Malfoy was wearing a wizard style suit. Then the fight began, but Malfoy didn't get more than a few punches in, for Snape quickly knocked him unconscious; his working out really paid off. Snape borrowed Hermione's wand, walked back over to the unconscious and bleeding Malfoy, and cast _Petrificus Totalus_ on him. He and Hermione brought Malfoy to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing.

On the way there, Hermione said to Snape, somewhat hesitantly, "Thank you for saving me back there."

"No problem, Miss Granger."

"Please, call me Hermione"

"Alright, Hermione."

When they got to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey immediately asked how Snape had gotten so bloody and bruised. Snape explained what happened with Malfoy. After hearing his explanation, Poppy insisted that they both remain in the hospital wing over night to be checked for more injuries and to recover from the attack. They informed her that they were fine but she insisted. Since there were so many students that had fainted, all the beds except for one were taken. Madam Pomfrey came bustling over to them and ushered them to the bed and enlarged it.

She said, "I'm sorry but this is the only empty bed I have left. Severus it seems the ladies have taken quite a liking to your new look." And then she left them alone, Snape scowling at her retreating back.

Snape turned to Hermione and said, "Miss Gr ..er Hermione, I hope you don't mind having to share a bed with me.

She smiled at him for using her name and replied, "Of course I don't mind."

As they were getting into the bed Snape said, "I thought you hated me and would be disgusted like all the other students."

She smiled at him again and said, "I never hated you. Sometimes I didn't like your unfairness or attitude, but I didn't hate you. I admire you because you are one of Hogwarts most brilliant minds and you are an excellent teacher. In fact I . . I ."

"You what?"

"Never mind" Hermione said hurriedly as Madam Pomfrey walked in.

She handed them each a sleeping potion and said, "Here, drink these and you will feel better when you wake up." The last thing Snape thought before he drifted off to sleep was, 'Merlin, she's so beautiful. I wonder what she was about to say . .'

Snape was in his classroom waiting for Hermione to show up for detention. He looked at his watch, she was two minutes late. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he shouted, "you are two minutes late."

"Sorry, Professor, I was just putting your special surprise together."

Snape raised an eyebrow, "What would this surprise be?"

"I will show you." She walked up to him and gave him a soft, lingering kiss on the lips, and said, "I love you, Professor." Then she ran out of his classroom. At first he just stood there, then he slowly brought his finger to his lips and felt the warmth that was still there from when she kissed him. 'She could never love me,' he thought to himself, 'she must have been joking.'

Just then Dumbledore walked in and said, "She loves you Severus."

"Severus, Severus wake up." Dumbledore shook him. "Ah, finally you're awake, dear boy. Miss Granger woke up some time ago and was sent back to her dormitory to pack. You slept a very long time and seemed to be having a very intriguing dream. You wouldn't even wake up for Miss Granger to bid farewell."

Snape's stomach fell at these words and he didn't know why. "Albus, am I free to go back to my room now?"

"Oh yes, you are quite fine, go ahead." said Dumbledore, and he left.

Severus quickly dressed and headed to the dungeons, all the way thinking about his dream. 'Why would I dream about the know-it-all; I couldn't possibly like her! She is my student; then again, she will be graduating next year and there is no rule against student-teacher relationships. She is also very beautiful; those warm brown eyes and that smile, but she would never like someone like me, especially after the way I've always treated her and her friends. Next year I will just have to change that. I won't just have a new look, I'll have a new personality to make her like me.' With that resolve he opened the door to his chambers and stepped inside to prepare his new self for when he saw Hermione again.

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to put up, I guess school just took up a lot of my time, and then I've spent the beginning of the summer writing it. R/R!


End file.
